After an undefeated season, junior Hope Cassman said she was excited to be part of a team that has won their section for the past 23 years.

“I think our season has gone well,” Cassman said. “We’ve won all of our meets so far, I think we’ll do well at state all of our teams are in really good shape, I’m excited.”

According to head coach Jessica Gust, every member of the team will be able to compete at the state meet.

“This is the 23rd year in a row we’ve won the section meet, we qualified 20 of our 22 routines,” Gust said. “It’s really exciting for the girls because everyone on our team gets to go swim at state.”

Captain Savannah Kjaer said she is looking forward to the state tournament to see how the team compares to other schools.

“States always a great opportunity to see the really great competition to see where everyone else is at and where we stack up to them,” Kjaer said. “It’s always great to see how it turns out.”

According to Gust, the team had the chance to practice at the University of Minnesota pool, which is where the state meet is being held.

“The U of M the pool looks the same all the way around so it’s important for us to practice there so the girls can get their bearings,” Gust said. “A critical part of our preparation is actually getting to be in that pool and swim in it a couple of times so the girls don’t get lost.”

Kjaer said the team has had extensive practice to prepare themselves for the meet.

“This week we have two practices a day, like usual, then we had a third practice on Monday during the day at the U of M to get used to that pool underwater, see what the walls look like and all that,” Kjaer said.

According to Cassman, the practice at the University of Minnesota allows the team to gain further preparation for the state meet.

“I think we’re going to do well, we’ve already had our state practice so were prepared to swim (at the U of M),” Cassman said. We’ve just been really working on full swims and perfecting all of the small details.”

Kjaer said the team has worked together to overcome adversity throughout the season.

“I always think the team is so tough, everybody puts up with a lot of challenges personally,” Kjaer said. “There’s always people who get sick and have other things they need to also use their time for, and everyone does a really great job of grinding through it all and continuing to show up.”